Last time, the 2nd part of the chunin exam has ended with the preliminary rounds finished. Those who have qualified to the tournament were given a month to train and prepare for the upcoming event.

With Kumo team 9

It's been 3 days since the end of the preliminary rounds, where all of candidates were given the month to train and rest, especially rest for Naruto since his fight with Lee. For the past 3 days, Naruto has been in the hospital, resting from devastating attacks that Lee gave him. But thanks to some rest, as well as the Kyubi healing factor, Naruto was back on his feet. As he rested, he asked about Lee's condition.

Samui, after some investigation, explained to him, because of the Hidden Lotus, his muscles have been torn apart. But the devastating part came from Naruto's Soul Breaker, where he hit Lee in the chest and sending him on the wall. The jutsu, not only electrified his nervous system, but when Lee impacted the wall, something happened to the spinal system that would now prevent Lee from ever becoming a shinobi again.

When Naruto heard this, he was of course upset, since he came to respect Lee from being the only person, in his age group, to actually push him over the limit and almost made him reveal one of his trump cards.

Once Naruto fully recovered, Yugito assembled everyone for a meeting in the Inn they were staying in. When everyone was inside, Yugito ask Naruto to place a silent seal on the room, where he quickly did. After everything was set, Yugito started the meeting.

"Alright you three, I've already sent word to Raikage-sama about the results so far. He was delighted to know that not only the mission was a success, but also hearing that you three have made it to the finals of the Chunin exams." Yugito explained which all three of them smiled at the Raikage's remark. She looked at Naruto, "Also by the way Naruto, it seems that you placed a blood seal on the scroll that carried all of your inheritance. Care to tell me why?

Naruto just smiled, "It's because it is my family jutsu, so I want to check it out before I send it all to my summonings home since it is also their's in a way. I figure that the best place to keep it safe would be with the Raikage since he would keep an eye on it like a hawk." He explained which Yugito sigh since she needs to send a message about Naruto's answer.

Yugito then continued on with the converstation, "With that being said, now is the time on to figure out on what to do for the finals since all of you made it in."

Yugito told them that Bee had asked her to do what she feels that each of his students should improve on, depending on who's facing who. Samui was going to face Haku, which she knew from the reports that she was a Hyoto user and was trained by Zabuza, the "Demon of the Mist." Karui was going to be the first to face against Sasuke Uchiha, where it could be a problem since Samui and Karui informed her on what Naruto was able to exam about some seal on Sasuke's neck. Finally, Naruto would be facing the Hyuga prodigy, Neji Hyuga. As she thought about how she can possibly train them to get ready, Naruto said, "You don't have to worry about me, Yugito-san. I plan on doing some private training on my own."

Yugito looked at him and said, "Are you sure? You saw what Neji Hyuga did to his cousin, Hinata. I can only imagine what he would do against a shinobi from the village that killed his father." With some worries in her voice.

"It's okay. You 2…" Naruto looked at Samui and Karui, "… should train with Yugito-san since I plan on to train secretly on something." Naruto responded

Once he finished explaining, Naruto got up, deactivated the silent seal and left the room. Yugito and the other had some concern, not just because of Neji Hyuga being his first opponent, but also because of what happened at the end of his match, where a part of Naruto's mask was ripped apart, revealing his bright blonde hair. Yugito can only hope that Konoha doesn't recognize on who he is.

Hokage Office

Ever since the preliminary exam has ended and the beginning of the month of preparation of the tournament, the Sandaime Hokage has been in complete thought about what happened in the end of the preliminary. He can still see the image that has been disturbing his mind, the blue sapphire eyes and the bright blond, spiky hair. As he stared at N from the where he was watching the preliminaries, the looked in N's eyes reminded him of only one person that had the same piercing look in his eyes, Minato Namikaze, the Yondaime Hokage.

As he continues to think about it, a disturbance awakens him from his deep thought. It was 3 shinobi elders, Koharu, Homura, and Danzo. Sarutobi asked on why they were here, where they answered that they needed to discuss on the upcoming tournament.

"As you can see, I've already started sending in the summonings for the chunin tournament." The third explained.

"Yes, but we must also be cautious considering on whose in the tournament." Homura said

"As the village now knows, Sasuke is in the finals, where in his second match he'll be facing the Hyuga prodigy." Koharu

"Are you so sure that Sasuke would be facing Neji? Don't forget, he'll be facing that Karui girl first, then probably face Neji or N from Kumo." Sarutobi stated

"If I didn't know any better Sarutobi, I think you hope that Sasuke would lose in his matches." Danzo responded

"No, I'm just being realistic since not everything goes according to plan as you should be aware of." Hiruzen said

"In any case, I certain that Orochimaru's involvement on the last Uchiha does bring concern. After all, he might try and abduct him before or after the tournament, where if he makes it to the finals or loses against Neji in the semi-finals." Koharu explained

"We also must consider the danger that Gaara and Ko will be entering as well since both of them are jinchurikis. The damage, if both of them were to face each other could be catastrophic if they should both meet in the semi-finals." Homura said with concern

"Don'tt worry; I will be taking charge of Ko's training for the month. When the tournament begins, he'll be strong enough to defeat Gaara should he try and release his biju. Although, I'am certain that Sasuke can defeat Gaara on his own without any help." Danzo stated

After discussing the matter of Sasuke and such things about the tournament, the elders left. When the elders left, Sarutobi thought about what was discussed, but then thought about N since somewhere around his mind, he believed that N is a wild card that shouldn't be underestimated.

With Naruto

Naruto left the Inn and decided to do some basic chakra exercises to help him stretch his body a bit after resting for a couple of days in the hospital. He decided first to take a bath in the hot springs to ease some still sore muscles before doing some basic workout.

When he arrived, he made his way towards the men side, but before he can enter he heard someone giggle perversely. He went around to the women side to check on what made the giggling sound. At first, he thought it was the women inside the bath, but then he saw something that made his eyes narrow.

Right in front of him, Naruto was viewing an old man peeking inside the women's bath. He can see that the old man was a tall male, over 6 ft. tall and seemed to be in his fifties. He also had extremely long spiky white hair, tied into a pony tail with 2 shoulder-length bangs that framed both sides of his face. On his face, red lines ran down from his eyes and had a unique forehead protector with the kanji of "oil" printed across the metallic object. He also wore a custom red shinobi uniform with wooden sandals. Along with uniform, behind his back was a large scroll that he carried around.

As Naruto saw this man peeking in on the women, his rage began to rise since he had a lot of respect for women. He was also glad that Samui wasn't in the bath since the pervert might have peeked on her, making Naruto anger grow more since she could have been in their.

He quickly pulled out his bow and arrow, aimed at the man from a nice distance before yelling out, "AH, A PERVERT IS PEEKING IN THE WOMEN'S BATH!"

The women, in the bath, screamed in fright when they heard someone warning them, while the old man screamed at how some kid just ruined his fun.

"Why you little brat, you just-" said the old man before he was cut off when he saw an arrow flying towards him, that exploded and was replace with dozens of senbon needles.

The old man yelled out in fear as he barely dodges the senbon needles, where it sticks on the wooden wall in a cartoonish outline of him. Once Naruto fired his arrow, he put his bow back in its seal and made his way towards the men's bath. But before he can even walk 3 ft. he was stopped by the old man.

"Hey! What was that for?!" yelled the white hair man

"That's for peeking at the women you old pervert." Naruto stated

"I wasn't peeking, I was doing research!" the old man stated

"Research?" question Naruto

"You see, I'm a novelist. I'm a writer of great books, like this." The old man said as he pulled out an "Icha Icha" book, where Naruto remembered seeing that back in Nami no Kuni when Kakashi read it at his free time.

Naruto criticized him since he only saw it as an excuse. The old man started rant how he needed to do that to create his novels, which made Naruto go into his shuriken holster and pulled out a couple of shurikens since he didn't like how this old pervert treated women. As he pulled out the shurikens, he accidently pulled out his book, "Tales of the Gusty Ninja", out where it fell onto the ground. The old man notice it the covering, where he then grinned at it.

"Ah, I see I have a fan in front of me." The white hair man said

"A fan?" Naruto looked confused

"Yes, after all that's my book that I wrote that fell of your holster." The old man pointed out

Naruto looked disbelief that the one who wrote this interesting book, that his father enjoyed reading, was written by this pervert. It was then that old man introduced himself in his weird dance.

"Well, since I have a fan, I might as well tell you my name. I'm known far and wide, I'm the sannin of Mt. Myoboku, the wise an immortal spirit, yes it is I the Gama Sannin or better known as Jiraya." Jiraya introduce himself.

It was then that Naruto went wide-eye. He remembered hearing about Jiraya when he back in the academy. Naruto knew that Jiraya's name came up in some lectures as one of the threes legendary sannin. The only other fact that he knew about Jiraya is that fact that he trained his father, the Yondaime Hokage.

Once the introduction was done, Naruto just picked up his book and just glared at Jiraya, "Whatever. I might like your book, but you're just a little perverted old man."

Jiraya just laugh it up and said, "I am not a little pervert."

"Then what are you?" Naruto asked

"I'm a big one." Jiraya answered, which Naruto just sighed and went to the men's bath. Once Naruto left, Jiraya had gone from his pervert personality to his shinobi one. He stared at the Kumo nin that walked away. The thing that got his attention about the boy was his eyes, since there has only been one person with the same intensity in his eyes as the boy had and that was his former student, Minato the Yondaime Hokage.

He decided to investigate on the matter a little bit later since he found it strange to see anyone have the same similarity, since there hasn't been anyone since the Yondaime to carry such intensity in him.

Later

It was past noon, as Naruto found a good training spot that gave him what he needed. He found a good part of the forest that provided a tall waterfall. Area was perfect since it was isolated with the exception of a few girls playing around on the half of the river that was divided from the waterfall.

Naruto went to the shallow river where he walked on it and began his routine. He stretched his muscles and did his stances. For 30 minutes, he trained in his taijutsu. Once he finished his warm-up, he decided to work on a new jutsu that his father left behind for him.

In the letter, Naruto read that his father had given him everything except 2 special jutsu.

The letter

Naruto, in my library, I have left all of my jutsu and seals that are complete or in-complete to you. But the only things I didn't leave you are my 2 greatest jutsu that I've ever created, the Rasengon and Hirashi no jutsu. The Rasengon is for you, for your own protection, while the Hirashi is to prove that you are my son. Consider it a test since I have left no sealing formula or anything that would allow anyone to recreate it for their own purpose (Think Danzo). I hope that one day that you may forgive me, but if not at least know that I love you and will always be by your side.

End letter

Naruto read the letter only to see that the instruction to the Rasengon where; Rotation, Power, and Maintain Control. He didn't understand on what his father meant about these 3 steps, but swore that he'll master his father's prize ninjutsu. The only thing he did figure out was that this jutsu required his charka. So he figured out that the jutsu must require him to rotate his chakra with his hands.

For the next couple of hours, he's been trying to rotate his chakra in his hands but hasn't gotten anywhere yet except seeing his chakra spin around like flat pizza dough. As he continues to train on mastering the first step, Naruto didn't know that someone was watching him in the shadows.

Behind some trees, the person that was watching him was amazed on what this Kumo shinobi was trying to do. He thought, "I don't believe it, this kid is actually trying to recreate Minato's jutsu. He's trying to create the Rasengon." The person thought while hiding behind the trees. It was then that the person stepped out from behind his hiding spot to reveal Jiraya.

The reason why Jiraya was spying on him was because of what he felt from the kid. It was even more bothering to him since he can see the same kind of focus and piercing gaze as the Yondaime Hokage since he has been spying on him for the last couple of hours. He was just recently been able to find him at his earlier attempts to master the first step of the jutsu. At first, he thought it was for something else, but saw that after a few hours of training he was able to figure out this boy's goal.

As the sun began to set, he saw the Kumo genin starting to leave and head back to his living place. Once he left, Jiraya started to wonder about him since even though he has never seen him before, he felt that he was someone important.

Inn

Naruto returned at dinner time, when he saw Yugito and the rest of his team getting ready for dinner. When he arrived, he asked Samui and Karui on what they learned. Samui was learning on how to enhance her lightning and water jutsu. Yugito was going to teach Samui two powerful lighting jutsu that might come in handy against Haku and Gaara, if she competes against him. Karui explained that she was training on her swordmanship and taijutsu since Yugito was training Samui today, while she'll learn from her tomorrow, but Yugito explained to her that her main focus would have to increase her physical strength. Once Naruto heard them explain on what they were doing, they asked him on what he was doing, which he said it was a secret, but ran into Jiraya the gama sannin.

This got Yugito worried since Jiraya might have seen through Naruto's mask since he is known to be a great seal master. She calmed down a little when Yugito heard Naruto say that he left him alone and avoided spending too much time with him.

After dinner, Yugito wanted another meeting with them. Naruto place the silent sealing jutsu around the room again. Once the jutsu was active, Yugito went to work.

"Alright then everyone, we have a month to get ready. Karui and Samui, I'm going to do my best and get you guys ready to face your opponents, especially you Samui since if you win against Haku, then you'll have to face Gaara and possibly Ko since they are the Jinchurikis."

Samui nodded her head, while Karui looked worried for her since Samui may not be facing one jinchuriki, but possibly 2. Yugito then focus on Naruto. Naruto looked at her as she said, "Naruto… I just got a letter from Bee-sama. He said that in order for you to face the opponents that you might be facing, he suggest that you try and harness the Kyuubi chakra."

Naruto looked worried since this would be a difficult task to achieve since he wanted to master his father's jutsu but knew that if he can use the Kyuubi's, than his chances on winning would be greater. He looked at Yugito and nodded. Yugito then looked at Karui.

"Alright than, as for you Karui. We need to get you ready to face the Uchiha since I've no doubt that Kakashi is going to be planning something to face Gaara sand jutsu. The best way to face him would be if I can get you to move a lot faster than him in both taijutsu and kenjutsu. I will also help you in sharpening your lightning affinity since that is your best chance in defeating him." Yugito stated

Karui nodded and was ready to work hard on it. It was then that Naruto spoke up.

"Hey Karui, how about I put the Gravity Binding Seal on you."

Karui didn't know on what it was which Naruto explained it was fuinjutsu that he recently learned from his summonings that the seal helps in training. It was similar to using weights on your body, similar to Lee but use seals instead to put on Karui to help her train. Karui liked the idea on training like that since it would help her a lot.

"So, how much weight can you place on her?" Yugito asked

"The fuinjutsu is set only to at least 2 to 4 times the normal person's own strength, depending on the person's own chakra." Naruto stated

Yugito nodded and looked at Karui, which she nodded on training in such a way. For the next 30 minutes, Naruto prepared the arm and ankle bands to be place on Karui. He used his brush and special ink to write down the sealing formula on each band. In the process, he created 4, 10 inch circle formula on the wooden floor to be used. He admitted that he can't do it as well as his summonings since he is still learning, but it was still simple and effective to use. He then places his hands on the floor where the seals shrank into each band. Once it was done, the bands were ready to go. Karui place each band on both her wrists and on her ankles. Naruto then showed her the hand signs to activate it and the hand sign to deactivate it. Karui activated the seals, where she felt like she was 2.5 times heavier than normal. She was still able to walk but it was difficult for her to move around.

"Give it some time Karui, you'll have to go back to basic before we can even start on both your tai/kenjutsu training. That means push-ups, sit-up, etc." Yugito stated

"Yeah, no problem Yugito-sensei, I'll be ready to for this no problem." Karui responded

Once everything was said, Yugito told everyone to rest for the night since tomorrow; everyone has to be ready for the intensive training that they'll be facing for the month.

As everyone slept, Naruto was the only one that was awake as the night stars shine from the heavens. As he looked up, he can't help but feel that soon, he'll be facing his greatest challenge, both physical and mental.

Till Next Ch